Kilt Pin Modification

[Blupiper]

I was out at the Caledonian Games in Athena, OR, this weekend. On my kilt I had my favorite pin--emphasis on 'had.' At one point in the day, I sat down, looked down at the apron and--no kilt pin! I purchased it in Luss on my first visit to Scotland. My question is: where do you buy those rare earth magnets in button form so I can take off all the pins from my kilt pins and convert them to magnetic? I'm ticked off right now and want a solution that will hold the kilt pins on with no worries about them falling off. Thanks in advance.

JMB

[SorenMacTavish]

I am not sure where to find them in a localized shop setting, but I do know that some friends have bought them from the internet. This is where most of them have gotten them from: http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

Hope that helps. And sorry to hear about the loss of your pin.

~Soren

[kiltedrennie]

I feel your pain (but not as intensely, mine wasn't purchased visiting Scotland!) I purchased a pin this weekend to replace one the TSA lost for me and not an hour later noticed it missing. Of course I was all over the place at the Saline Celtic Festival - on a big open grassy field. Made a token search but came up empty. Went back to the vendor and purchased another with a stiffer clasp.

You can find button shaped rare earth magnets on Etsy (here for example http://www.etsy.com/listing/62149092...rth-magnets-38)

I've also found that pins with two butterfly clutch style clasps work well (as long as the TSA doesn't get ahold of it).

[sailortats]

I put a piece of a rubber band on the pin. That way if the clasp does come undone the band will prevent the pin from falling off altogether. See pic
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[brewerpaul]

You can find them on the internet pretty easy via Amazon, Ebay and other places. They come in various sizes. On fix I did came from a recommendation here on XMarks and that is locking pin backs. Ill include the url to EBay. They are quite handy and hold well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Locking-p...item2ebec8535a

Here is the results of a search on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...e+%2Caps%2C243

[MacCathmhaoil]

I have a sterling silver stag leg kilt pin that has an eyelet to attach a safety chain with a wee safety pin that then pins onto the kilt as well. You can have one soldered on by any jeweller, probably cost $5-10. and the jeweller can supply the safety chain also. You can see the eyelet at the top of the leg, mind you it weighs enough that I'm relatively certain the thud would alert me if it fell, I wouldn't chance it
image.jpg

[Steve Ashton]

From personal experience I will never use rare earth magnets again on a kilt pin. In 2010 I took some magnets out of an old hard drive I had that had died. The magnets themselves worked really well to hold the pin in place. No holes in the kilt.

But everytime I walked past anything metal I found my apron sticking to it. I got out of my car at the grocery store. As I walked between the cars my kilt pin snapped abut 8" over to the car fender. As I walked, the pin slid off the edge of the apron and ended up stuck to the fender.

I kept the magnets on my pin for two more weeks before finally getting fed up with it.

I now rely on the rubber band method of securing my kilt pins. A simply length of of rubber band strung onto the attachments inside the apron has saved my antique pins four times now. They have come loose but did not fall off.

[Hopper250]

If you are serious about rare earth (I'm with Steve on this one, you don't want them) try Radio Shack, many of the parts stores carry them in stock. Though when they are used to keep your nametag on they do the same thing as what happens with the apron. (I have pockets that are partially unstitch due to this.)